Resurrection: The Outtakes
by TwilightMomofTwo
Summary: Outtakes and Extras from my story Resurrection. AU. Rated M for potty-mouth and possible lemonade.
1. Roadtrip with Emmett

**Author's Note: **

This is a missing moment outtake from my AU vamp story 'Resurrection' which can be found here: www . fanfiction . net/s/5443190/1 (just remove the spaces).

Many thanks to the fabulous _Bella's __Executioner _for betaing this sucker. I don't know what I'd do without her encouragement, support and wise words. She makes me a better writer.

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight, including these characters. The plot for this outtake, as well as the full AU story, is mine. No copyright infringement is intended.

On with it.

oooo~~~~OOOO~~~~oooo

**Musings of a simple man **

The interstate stretches in front of us as I steer the car through the night, speeding as always, on our way to Chicago. Baby girl has finally fallen asleep in the backseat, tear tracks dried on her face. Alice put a pillow under her head and covered her legs with a blanket.

I wish I knew what the hell Edward is thinking, running off like that. I get it, alright? I know Bella's actions in the last couple of months have made him question her commitment to him, but for fuck's sake, I just don't get why he's constantly running away instead of facing the issue head-on.

And I get that Bella kissing that fucking mutt was a real shitty move. I don't know what the fuck she was thinking, doing that, but whatever her reason, she has made it clear for a while now that she wants to be one of us, and that she wants to be with Edward.

She thinks that boy hung the moon.

That's debatable, but who am I to judge?

And now the dumb shit is running again. Just like he did last year after Jasper tried to take a bite out of Bella. Got all morose after that and demanded that we all leave.

I've never seen Alice bitch like she did that night, about how ridiculous he was acting, and how that wouldn't solve anything, and how Bella's future still didn't change, and that he should just suck it up, literally, and change her already.

That she was his mate, and that he was a complete fool to not realize it.

In the end, it didn't matter. Carlisle gave his consent, we packed our shit, and were gone by nightfall, while Edward stayed behind to tell Bella good-bye.

I didn't find out until after our return what he had actually told her. Alice had seen it but she'd kept that tidbit to herself.

Needless to say, once I did find out how shitty and cruel Edward had been to my baby sister, I was ready to rip off his head.

Lucky fucker heard me coming.

Fucking mind reader. Can't sneak up on him.

Which reminds me.

"Alice, how're we gonna get close to him once we get to Chicago? He's gonna hear us from miles away and his sissy ass is gonna run again."

"Same way I did in Volterra. Bella first. She'll sufficiently distract him."

Jasper snorts down his nose. "If he doesn't eat her first. I s'pose that is a distraction as well."

"Jasper!" Alice gasps. "That's not funny."

Yeah, it is, actually, and I snicker accordingly.

"Eat her out, you mean?"

"Emmett!" Rose smacks me over the head and I sober up with a snort.

"That'll be the day, Edward biting Bella. He's more likely to rip his own face off."

Jasper grimaces. "He's stronger than all of us, that's for sure."

"What is the prognosis?" Rose asks, and there's a hint of concern in her voice. She doesn't want anyone to know how she really feels about Bella, but I know this woman in and out, and I can tell my wife has come to support the relationship. And accepted the fact that Bella will be one of us sooner or later.

"I can't see much yet. He hasn't fed in a while. I don't know that he's even thinking about hunting. Oh! Jasper! Peter and Charlotte will come visit in a few weeks. Edward's about to run into them."

Alice giggles.

I raise my eyes at her. "What?"

"They're...busy, when he meets up with them."

My eyes find those of my wife in the rearview mirror, and I smile, winking at her. I know exactly what kind of busy Alice is talking about and my dick twitches, wishing I could stop this car and drag Rosalie into the woods for a quick forest fuck.

Too bad there's no time to stop.

Damn it!

I add another reason to beat my brother when we get to him.

Rosalie is my own personal angel. My mate. I don't know what I'd do without her. She makes my life worth living.

She also keeps me in line whether I need it or not.

I waggle my eyebrows at her and grin as she bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, while she thumbs me on the head.

"Eyes on the road, Emmett."

See?

Alice has that faraway look on her face, the typical, tell-tale sign that she is having one of her visions. She freaked me out when she and Jasper initially joined the family, always talking about things that hadn't even happened yet, most of them out of the blue, without any warning. The first time she told me to head a certain way when hunting, I scoffed, but when Edward came back, grinning after having brought down the bear I'd been tracking, I started to listen to her.

She is good to have around.

Naturally, the freakfest continued and Edward started having these completely silent conversations with her when they figured out how to use her visions and his mind-reading to keep the rest of us out of whatever shit they're planning.

I hate that with a vengeance. I hate being out of the loop. And those two freaks, with their sneaky abilities, ganged up on me time after time. For a while there, it was Embarrass Emmett Day every day.

Though if I'm honest, most of the time it doesn't really bother me too much. I'm usually happy with whatever gets my moody brother out of his funk. That boy can be such a Debbie Downer, it ain't funny. Always so withdrawn and staying on the fringes. Over the last couple of decades, it has only gotten worse.

He's been alone for so long, and while I don't mention it often, I do understand that he feels left out in a family of mated pairs.

Eighteen months ago, he fell in love with Bella and the usually solitary, self-contained and mostly melancholy brother I knew completely transformed and slowly blossomed into someone I could actually relate to – someone I could enjoy being around. He started joking a bit – not often, but his gloomy mood lifted.

Bella was good for him.

Except the boy didn't see it. Didn't want to see what was right in front of him, and realize that, by golly, he'd found his mate. So she was human. So what? Nothing a simple bite wouldn't cure, right? Not complicated at all, as far as I was concerned.

Oh no, Mr. Perfect would not even entertain the idea, and threatened all of us with bodily harm if we were to even try to change her. Or come near her with our teeth. Or whatever.

Her soul was too important, blah blah blah, and he just couldn't possibly condemn her to this life.

His words, not mine.

I suppose he didn't consider the fact that putting a human among seven vampires, vegetarians or not, wasn't exactly the best idea he'd ever had.

I can still remember how he worried and fiddled and pissed me off the whole weekend hunting with me, way back when he first started to admit his feelings for Bella to himself. Stupid idiot, really. What was clear to all of us from the get-go took Broody McBroodster months to figure out. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees, and all that.

I guess Bella being his singer confused him, but to all of us, it was obvious what was happening.

Dude was in love. That one and only time it happens to us, it's usually clear as day. You'd have to be extremely dense to mistake it for anything else.

Edward is probably the only vampire who could be confused about how that mating business works. It's instant, involuntary and irrevocable.

When he finally got it, all was well for a while. I have to give the man credit, though - his will is much stronger than mine. I still can't quite understand how he was able to resist biting her, knowing how good she smelled to him. That whole singer phenomenon – well, let's just say the woman I ran into way back when never stood a fucking chance. I didn't even think straight until after she was drained. It was a compulsion.

Bite, suck, bliss.

And I'm not ashamed to admit to myself, and Edward who plucked that thought right out of my head, damn him, that the poor woman's blood tasted better than anything else that ever crossed my lips.

Rosie's venom included.

But don't tell her that.

We all watched the Edward and Bella show for the rest of the summer. Esme was gushing almost daily how wonderful Bella was, how she brought Edward to life and how it made her so happy to see Edward finally in love.

Carlisle was relieved and worried at the same time, knowing that Edward would have to make a choice sooner or later.

Alice was beside herself with giddiness, and not only from having found a BFF – no, it was very clear that she was also reaping the benefits of the lust and desire Edward was sending out whenever he laid eyes on Bella or touched her in any way.

And I'm not talking bloodlust – no, this was a very different kind of lust. Looked like to me as if Edward the Edwardian had finally discovered his sexuality. Talk about a late bloomer. Dude was forever seventeen but that apparently didn't mean anything. Not even Tanya's consistent advances tempted him from keeping his cherry intact.

He did shower a lot more after he met Bella, if you get my drift, but other than a few chaste kisses, I never saw or heard them do anything even remotely sexual.

Naturally, I ribbed him mercilessly, especially when Jasper started groaning at the sexual tension between the two of them.

I think that's when he first started rubbing one out every morning, before picking Bella up for school. I teased him about that, too – at least, until he jumped on my back and pushed my face in the dirt, and kept me there until I promised him to quit the teasing.

He should have just changed her. A lot of the bullshit that went down since he met Bella could have been avoided if he'd just been man enough to fully make her his mate.

"He should have just fucking changed her," I blurt out angrily. "It's his fault we're stuck in this car, damn it. I'm bored."

"Quit whining, Emmett," Alice chirps. "You'll get a swipe at him when we get to the Chicago house."

I turn my head to her and snort in disbelief. "Yeah, right. Sure. Whatever."

"Oh, I have a plan. You'll see."

I grumble to myself, not buying what she's selling. There's no way he's gonna let me hit him. He's dodged my fists too many times.

"Trust me, Emmett," she giggles and winks. "You'll get in a punch, maybe even two."

I smile at the prospect. "Seriously?"

"Yes. I don't know exactly yet how it will happen but I see Edward rubbing his chin after you hit him."

"Excellent!" I pump my fist. "'s not like that happens a lot."

"Try never," Jasper laughs.

"Not true," I argue. "Just last week, I hit his arm."

Rosie chimes in. "Not sure that counts, Emmett."

"Guess not," I mutter as I think back. "He let me hit him, didn't he?"

She nods, trying to hide a smile. "Part of his apology, I think."

"Yeah – I wonder where that came from. It's not like him," Jasper muses. "The things he told me...well, let's just say it was rather unexpected."

I mull over that for a moment. It's true – Edward doesn't usually apologize for much of anything. He's always so fucking serious and stuck-up and proper, there isn't much to apologize for.

No, our Eddie is always a perfect gentleman, and no matter how much I tease him or throw explicit images at him in my head, he simply groans and walks away.

He seriously needs to trade in that V-card. Dude needs to get laid.

I have few memories of my human life, and they are hazy at best. There are a few images of my parents and my siblings sitting around a large table holding very little food. I remember a couple of girls that I had been friendly with.

When that stupid bear found me, I wasn't much older than Edward, but my dick had been dipped frequently since I was fifteen. There was always a pretty girl who'd catch my eye, and poor as we were, there sure wasn't much else to do.

Except for goats, maybe.

Okay, kidding.

Sure looks like this trait followed me into this life. Not a day goes by where Rosie and I don't fuck like rabbits. The sex was phenomenal ever since I pulled my head out of my ass after that first year as a newborn.

Life is good. Yeah, we're vampires and live off blood but thanks to Carlisle's philosophy and general pacifism, we have managed to build a life away from violence, with plenty of time to pursue our interests and form close bonds with each other. We're a family, and Bella is our missing piece.

We need her, to make the family complete. We all love her – even my darling wife, who has finally come around to accepting Bella as Edward's mate.

Life is pretty fucking good.

Unfortunately, my fucktard brother didn't get that memo.

Which is why we're on this roadtrip now, speeding towards Chicago, to reunite McBroody with his mate, who's currently drooling into the pillow. I wrinkle my nose. That's pretty disgusting, come to think of it. I wonder if she drools on Edward, too.

"Hmm, Edward..."

What the hell was that? My eyes flicker to the mass of brown hair and settle on her face.

Baby girl talks in her sleep, it seems. Well, isn't that interesting. I wonder what Edward has heard over the course of the last few months, seeing how he spends almost every night in her room.

Watching her snooze.

I can't think of anything more boring than that.

I snicker to myself. What a douchebag.

"Please...don't...please...come back." The plea is heartbreaking.

And just like that, I'm fucking angry.

This shit just doesn't fly with me. I don't understand how he can just up and leave her – not once, but twice.

Stupid fucker. There she is, lying in the back seat with her arms wrapped around herself, with snot drying under her nose, because my brother isn't man enough to open his fucking mouth and tell her the truth.

She's his mate.

He is hers.

And that's really all there's to it.

It's mutual. Always. No doubt about it.

She's been his mate from the moment they met. He just has his head too far up his ass to see this for what it is – a gift.

We are damn lucky, especially me, to have all found our mates. Hell, I was human too when Rosalie fell in love with me. I was almost bear dinner. Not my finest hour. Still, she carried me hundreds of miles to Carlisle and when I woke up, I was sure I had died and gone to heaven. She is the ying to my yang, or however that New Age shit works.

This is my version of heaven, anyway.

I still get a kick out of aggravating bears right before I snap their necks. Best revenge ever.

Edward has always been a master at hiding his true feelings, barricading himself behind his music and other sissy shit, and with every moment sinking a little deeper into his brooding melancholy, until even his music couldn't drag him out of the muck.

Until Bella.

And then the idiot left her.

Lied to her and just left her there.

I'm still pissed at him for demanding that we leave, and pissed at myself that I didn't refuse. We all abandoned that girl, and it's a miracle that she forgave us for it. The way she looked when we returned - all haggard and thin and pale - no, we were fucking lucky she let us back into her life.

This was not the girl I remembered.

We pay a price, though, for Edward's stupidity and arrogance and for our compliance with it.

It turned out that Bella had gotten friendly with the neighborhood werewolves while we were away, and they weren't keen on her spending time with the local bloodsuckers.

Just like we weren't keen on Bella spending time with them. Edward said a few things to her about it, and the battle lines were drawn. She didn't back down and guilted him into letting her spend time on the reservation where we aren't allowed to set foot.

Edward crumbled before our eyes. He kept up his charade in front of her, but the more time Bella spent with that rotten mutt, the more Edward faltered.

I was a bit confused with her behavior. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why she kept running after that dog. Edward mumbled a few things on occasion about how she felt guilty for having used that mutt. I wondered if she didn't see that what she was doing was simply stringing the dog along, all the while professing to love my brother and making plans to become one of us.

In the three months between their return from the clutches of the Volturi and the fight with the newborn army, I could see my brother deteriorating again. He was scared to call her out on her behavior, scared to question the status quo, scared to make her commit herself one way or another, because he wasn't sure that she would choose him.

Even Alice's intervention, begging him to talk to Bella about his feelings, made no impression on him. Edward kept muddling along and I could tell he was only barely holding on.

We left to hunt two days before Alice had seen the newborns in the clearing, and when we returned, Edward seemed elated about something.

We soon found out that he'd finally manned up enough and asked Bella to marry him. Esme was beside herself with joy, and I clapped his shoulder jovially, all the while thinking up a bunch of tricks to play on him before the wedding.

My fingers itched to get on the Internet to order a bunch of things. Instruction manuals on sex, a few toys – the list was getting longer the more I thought about it. Perhaps a few demonstrations with a blow-up doll.

Merciless ribbing is my forte, after all, and embarrassing my perpetually virginal brother is ridiculously easy.

All seemed well enough after the fight, and I still wasn't exactly sure what happened other than that Bella had kissed the dog for some stupid reason that might have made sense in her head but not to any of us, but the next night ended with my brother coming home, destroying his room in a fit of rage and then leaving town.

All this shit, this entire road trip could have been avoided if he had only told her how he feels instead of sticking his head in the sand, hoping that she'd figure it out on her own.

Honest communication is a keystone in any relationship, mated or not. Even I know that.

It's not like it's complicated. Talk. Listen. Talk some more. And when in doubt, remember that your woman is always right.

Not hard, right? Well, Edward has made a science out of over-complicating easy shit.

He's supposedly so fucking smart, but after this latest debacle, I'm having serious doubts.

I guess there's a difference between book smarts and common sense. He's seriously lacking the latter.

Seriously.

Dumbass.

Yes, my dear brother has taken stupid to a whole new level.

My knuckles tighten as my fingers flex and the car lurches forward as the tension in my body finds an outlet on the gas pedal.

Jasper glances at me with an unspoken question in his eyes and, for good measure, pushes a little calm at me.

"Emmett, ease up. I don't know what got you so angry all of a sudden, but please don't break the steering wheel."

I snort at him. "Yeah, whatever. Like you don't know."

He doesn't answer. It's just as well because I'm angry enough as it is.

"What is he doing?" Alice suddenly cries from the back seat and all eyes are instantly on her.

"What? What?" I shout, my eyebrow raised. "What's going on?"

Alice snickers uncontrollably. "Hahaha – he's about to decimate a patch of forest up in the Canadian Rockies somewhere. And I mean truly decimate. Like a wood chipper. What an idiot."

"You serious?"

"Yep," she grins. "Looks like he's finally letting out some of those pent-up feelings. Oh my – he seems to have picked up a few of your words, Emmett – dang, I didn't realize he had such a potty mouth."

"He learned from the best," I smile proudly and Rose laughs.

Jasper grins. "I think it'll do him a world of good to release some of that anger. Even if it is detrimental to the trees."

"He's pulverizing rocks, too," Alice giggles. "When he shows up at the house, he looks rather filthy."

"Oh, really?" I say, wiggling my eyebrows. "Perfect Edward got dirty?"

"I'd say it's beyond dirty at this point. He'll have to burn those clothes." She laughs and it's infectious. I guffaw before Rose shushes me.

Alice's eyes glaze over for a moment and I wait for the inevitable vision to play out in her head before she will let us in on what she's seen. My fingers tap the steering wheel impatiently as my eyes wander over the car's interior design.

It is a nice car. Fast, too. Even before Rose tinkered with it and boosted the engine performance. Not that I would know what she did. I'm not allowed to touch the cars, except for acting as the jack.

I don't mind. The rewards are usually very satisfactory, if you know what I mean.

"Excellent!" Alice exclaims with a giggle. "That worked out perfectly. He just gave us extra time to make a stop before we send Bella to the house. Yes!"

"Make a stop for what?" Rose asks from behind me.

"Obviously, Bella needs a car," Alice replies with a wink. "And this will be a perfect opportunity for her to accept a gift from Edward."

I'm not holding my breath. If anything, the past has proven that Bella is extremely adverse to receiving presents, especially from Edward. Hell, I had to install the radio we got her for her birthday last year before she opened her presents so she couldn't return it.

That's something else I don't understand about Bella. It's as if she doesn't understand that by rejecting Edward's gifts, she's actually rejecting him. We Cullen men get great pleasure from buying things for our women. From treating them the right way, from giving them their hearts' desires.

"Do you think he ever really explained that to her?" I blurt my thoughts.

"Explained what?" Jasper asks.

"About giving her stuff, and why."

"I sincerely doubt it," Rose chimes in. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," I elaborate, turning my head to the occupants in the back seat, "I'm just thinking out loud here, but if you were to reject my gifts for some odd reason, I'd be pretty fucking hurt. So, I'm wondering if Bella understands that by telling Edward he can't buy her things, she's actually hurting him."

"I sincerely doubt that, too," Alice snorts. "Saying something to Bella might make her want to break up with him. As if that were even a possibility..." She shakes her head. "For someone who's so very smart he sure isn't very bright."

My thoughts exactly.

"Well, Bella running after that hideous dog surely didn't convince him otherwise," Rose sneers angrily. "I don't know what the hell she was thinking, or why she can't see how much that hurt Edward."

"Well," I inject quickly before Rose can get any more pissed, "I may be wrong, and I'm only a guy, but it seems to me that Bella isn't convinced Edward was gonna stay. I mean we've only been back for a few months, right? And have they actually really talked about what happened?"

See? There's that honest communication thing again. That shit's important.

I may be loud and boisterous most of the time, but I see things nobody ever gives me credit for. When are these gift-enhanced twerps going to learn that the big guy's got a brain? I can put two and fucking two together without being a fortune teller pixie. Eddie's been sporting a tutu and doing Swan Lake around the subject of our abandonment. Like he's afraid to rock the boat. Maybe he's thinking that Bella would break things off if he sticks up for himself. Maybe he thinks he's on thin ice and scared to remind her of anything that went on since last fall.

Not that I blame him, considering the clusterfuck his leaving caused._ That,_ I blame him for.

"Not that I'm aware of," Alice says sadly. "Even thought I've told him numerous times, I've never actually 'seen' them talking about that topic except for that one time right after we got back. And knowing Edward, I'm fairly certain he's not brought it up again."

"Well," Jasper drawls from his seat next to me, "if y'all want my opinion, based on the emotions I've been picking up from both of them, I'd say that Bella is not only feeling guilty for spending time with the mutt, but also still somewhat hesitant to believe that Edward's here to stay. What hasn't changed at all, is the love I feel radiating from her, all directed at him. It's nearly as strong as how I feel about Alice, and considering that Bella's still human...well...it will only get stronger once she's one of us. There's an underlying familial love I can sense for the rest of us. She worried a lot when we prepared for the fight. There's a sadness, too, that I can't understand but if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's because of what's coming – having to say goodbye to her father, her friends. She's scared, and I can comprehend her apprehension. There's a bit of fear on occasion, tinged with guilt. Oddly enough, fear is one emotion she has never felt towards me..."

He breaks off and falls silent, staring out the windshield. Alice's hand snakes onto his shoulder and squeezes, and Jasper turns his head towards us again.

"As I said, I think Bella doesn't trust Edward to stay. And he has certainly proven himself today, hasn't he? I can't say I blame her for feeling that way."

Rose snorts angrily. "I beg to differ. She brought a lot of this on herself. Granted, the dumbass shouldn't have run again, but I can see where he would get the wrong message."

"I think they both need some time alone to talk things out," Alice placates my wife. "They've both made some serious mistakes."

It's my turn to snort. "Ya think?"

Jasper chuckles but then we all fall silent again. I fiddle with a piece of yarn that's sticking up from the steering wheel cover. Probably shouldn't do that. Rosie would have my hide if I mess up the car.

The miles fly away under the tires. We leave Wyoming behind and cross into South Dakota, only stopping for gas as needed. Bella sleeps the night away.

By morning we reach Wisconsin, and after a quick stop to feed the human and let her use the restroom we are in Illinois, only a couple of hours away from our destination.

Alice quietly talks to Rose after Bella falls asleep again, chatting about inconsequential gossip. I listen with half an ear, while the rest of my mind not needed for driving wanders.

I think about my oldest brother and my little human sister, wondering if there is anything these two could have done to fuck up their relationship any more thoroughly, and what, if anything, I can do to help them back onto the right path.

I can't come up with anything much. They've nearly fucking destroyed each other, and yet, their bond has withstood not only a long separation, but also a massive amount of wounds they inflicted on the other. I'm amazed that Bella has been able to deal with the months of their separation, seeing how she's human.

I've heard of vampires going insane from the pain of losing their mates.

Granted, she _is_ human, so perhaps that means that she doesn't feel with the same intensity we do, though I don't doubt that she feels the mating bond as strongly as she possibly can, in her human form. Then again, I don't know much about that shit – that's all Carlisle's domain – but I do know that if I were without Rosie for that long, I'd go absolutely bonkers.

We don't separate once mated, and that's that.

Jasper glances at me. "You okay there, Em? It's not like you to be so quiet."

"Just thinking," I reply with a smirk. "Yeah, I know – what a rarity."

He grins. "Wasn't gonna say it."

When we're less than an hour from Chicago, I address Alice.

"So, what's the plan, oh wise one?"

"There's an Audi dealership right off the interstate in Schaumburg, outside of Chicago. We'll stop there to make Bella buy a car."

I laugh. "Good luck with that. Does she know?"

"Not yet, but I don't see her putting up much of a fight. I think between Rose and myself, we can convince her."

"Convince or persuade?" Jasper injects with a smirk. "Slight difference."

Alice thinks for a moment. "Not sure yet. Either way, she'll be buying a car."

Rose rubs her hands. "I am certainly looking forward to that. What kind are we making her buy? I know Edward's been talking about the A8 for a while."

"Excellent idea," Alice says. "Oh wait...ugh, slimy salesman alert. Jasper, you'll have to do all the talking initially."

"No problem, darlin'. What model are we looking at?"

As Rose launches into an animated discussion of the pros and cons for the various cars, I tune them out and catch another glimpse of my sleeping sister. She washed her face at the last stop and it's free of the tears for now.

I sigh.

Fucking morons.

Both of them.

These two need to start talking, for real this time, and the sooner, the better.

In the distance, I can already see very top of the Sears Tower.

It's time.

oooo~~~~OOOO~~~~oooo

**Endnote:** Thank you for reading. Please leave a review. Any future outtakes will be posted here as well. And if you're so inclined, please follow me on twitter [at]twilighmomofto.


	2. Alice

**Author's Note: **I originally wrote this snippet for the Fandoms4Floods compilation to help out with the devastating floods in Australia. It's now time to post it as the outtake it was meant to be. I hope you enjoy a glimpse into Alice's mind.

Thank you to Bella's Executioner who beta'd this for me, and to my husband who puts up with me when I hide in my woman cave. And many thanks to everyone who donated and got to read this story long before it is posted.

Twilight and its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

**Of The Future**

It's not easy being me. I know what they call me.

Fortune Teller.

Psychic.

Cheater.

Annoying little pixie.

It's not that I mind. Sometimes I wish I didn't see what I see.

Over the last year and a half a lot of the things that pop up in my head have been about my brother and his soon-to-be wife.

Some things I see are horrifying and I wish there was a way to scrub them from my mind.

Edward, torn to pieces by the Volturi after showing himself to humans in the sunlight.

Bella in the ballet studio, tormented, bloodied, broken, with an inconsolable Edward holding her to his chest, sobbing his pain into the night.

An out of control van spinning towards her, crushing her between metal and glass, and Edward going insane at the scent of her blood spilling in front of him, unable to help himself, drinking from her open wounds and exposing us for what we are, and in the same flash, Edward catatonic and unresponsive after losing Bella before the Volturi show up to kill us all.

A vision of Bella, cradled protectively in Edward's arms, pale and lifeless with a wound on her neck while his face is lifted to the skies, his lips stained red from her blood, his agonized screaming echoing in the trees around him.

There were quite a few of those right after they met for the first time but they became fewer and fewer within weeks and then disappeared completely.

I can only imagine the strength it took to resist the temptation that Bella's blood presents to him. There is no doubt in my mind that were I to come across my singer I wouldn't think twice. I certainly wouldn't be able to stop myself.

Perhaps it helped in small ways that he loved her instantly, before he even spoke to her. Of course, stubborn as he is, he didn't realize it at first. It took two weeks, a near-death experience with an errant van and a little nudging from me for him to figure that he was irrevocably bound to her in all ways for the rest of his existence.

It's a funny thing, our mating. When we meet that one person we're meant to be with the attraction is instantaneous, irrevocable and involuntary. It's always mutual and there is no way it can be mistaken for anything else.

I guess Edward thought that with Bella being human her feelings for him did not fall under that rule – that she would forget him and move past him.

Fat chance of that happening but he would not listen to any of us.

My brother can be an insufferable know-it-all and when he has his mind made up there is no changing it.

Unless your name is Bella Swan.

In that case, you might stand a small chance that he will reconsider.

Some of my visions are truly wonderful, like the one that struck me out of the blue on Christmas Eve 1986. I couldn't help but watch in breathless wonder as a pretty girl in a white gown, with long brown hair flowing down her back below a gossamer veil, flowers clutched in one hand, walked on a man's arm toward my favorite brother, dressed in a dapper morning suit, whose expression was one of overflowing joy and sheer elation.

Edward was getting married.

And despite the fact that this was a _human_ walking towards him, I couldn't help but feel excited by this vision. This girl would change my brother's life forever.

This girl was his mate, fated to be his companion for the rest of time.

I had no idea who she was, at least not at the time, though it dawned on me much, _much_ later, after Bella had already found her way to Edward, that my first vision of her was on the day of her conception.

I could hardly wait to meet her, but it was difficult to ascertain where we were and what year this wedding would take place.

Needless to say, I kept that one hidden from Edward, somewhere deep in the back of mind.

Or the one where she is one of us, happily dancing around the yard outside, her red eyes twinkling with delight.

I loved that particular vision. Edward's violent reaction to it, on the other hand – not so much.

Foolish boy. He didn't realize that no matter what he decided to change to stop it from coming to pass, he was bound to fail.

I can still hear his outraged roar ringing in my ear when he plucked that thought out of my head the first time, though lately, he has started to react with more of a silent resignation and, when he thought I wasn't looking, a quiet longing for that day to arrive.

I guess he figured out somewhere during the last three months that it _will_ happen, no matter what.

As it should.

Bella has made her choice, though I'm not sure she ever had one.

Her fate was already decided.

Edward needs to accept it.

He also needs to understand that he deserves it. He deserves happiness, so much more so because he's been alone for so long.

When I opened my eyes to this life, disoriented and scared with an unfamiliar fiery burn in my throat, I saw Jasper's face in my mind. I didn't know who he was, didn't know when I would meet him or how but I knew that my life was inextricably bound to his and that I had to find him.

It took me nearly thirty years.

I don't remember anything from my human time, and the few pieces I've managed to find in my research last year are dismal at best. What James disclosed on the video tape while he tortured Bella was of very little assistance. From what I can gather, I had visions as a human and my family disposed of me shortly after my sixteenth birthday. I thankfully don't remember the time I spent in the mental institution though I can glean of the old reports that it likely wasn't pleasant and I only get occasional flashes of a pale man with red eyes and a white doctor's coat.

I presume he is my maker though I remember nothing of my change. What I know about the pain of the transformation is from what the others have told me and not from personal memory.

It was my vision of Jasper and our happiness together that kept me sane enough to not turn into a savage newborn, to be careful about finding my first kill and slake the thirst that burned my throat. Seeing his face, his love for me in my mind gave me the strength I needed to put myself on the path to him.

I have killed humans for sustenance and much like Edward, I still carry the guilt of that though mine is certainly not as debilitating as his. Unlike him, I don't brood over what I've done – there really is no point because I don't live in the past. What's done is done and there is no changing it. I'm not proud of it and I regret taking their lives but until I saw Carlisle and his family in my head, I didn't know any other way.

Once I realized that animals were a choice, it didn't take me very long to adjust to that diet.

By the time I found Jasper in that small diner in Philadelphia, waiting for him, knowing he would soon appear before me, I was proficient at denying my thirst around humans.

Since then it has been my mission to keep him on that same path and with a few exceptions I have succeeded.

Eventually, Jasper and I caught up with Carlisle and his family – I say family because that is what we are. Our choice in diet has given us the capacity to lead a more tranquil, peaceful life, one that both Jasper and I enjoy.

And in Edward, I've found a friend unlike anything I've ever imagined. Where Jasper and I are two halves of a whole, Edward is my twin. He is my confidante and my best friend.

Together, we are the first line of defense for our family – my visions and his mind-reading are a formidable advantage over any enemy.

Not that there are many outside of our own kind.

It can occasionally get tiresome to continuously scan the future like I do, seeing things and people and places that are sometimes hard to interpret and difficult to put into context.

Sometimes, I have to hide things from Edward. The first vision of his bride was one of them. Looking at the different possibilities I determined at the time that it was best if he did not see what the future held in store for him.

He would have run. He's rather good at that, as recent events have shown.

For nineteen long years I kept my silence, and until Aro pulled my every thought from me in that chamber of death in Italy, Edward did not know that I saw Bella as his mate from the day she was conceived.

When she made the decision to move to Forks, I saw more images of her, interacting with Edward, with the rest of us. I didn't tell him, wouldn't let myself think about it around him. And in hindsight I am glad I didn't know how violently Edward would react to her, since I had no idea that she was his singer.

He hasn't mentioned it to me and I suppose there is a tiny possibility that Aro's gift was too fast for Edward to capture everything. If he had, I assume he would have seen what happened to me in my human life and since he has not said anything about it at all, I cling to the hope that he also does not know just how long his path has been set.

My visions are subjective, this much is true, but sometimes the future is set in stone by something larger than us, the Fates if you will, and then it doesn't matter what we do – we will still see it come to pass.

My finding Jasper was one of those visions, as was the one I had of the Cullens.

Edward and Bella is another.

Even when he decided to leave her after her eighteenth birthday the images of their wedding day didn't actually change, per se, but Bella suddenly looked older. It seemed that Edward's decision only postponed the inevitable.

I blamed myself for not seeing Jasper lose control but how does one foresee an unintentional papercut?

I almost told my brother that he was only delaying what would come to pass but the second I decided on that course of action that eighteen year old vision disappeared completely. Frantically, I searched the future but saw no other option so with a heavy heart I gave in to his demands that we leave town.

I knew that eventually, we'd be back though at the time I didn't know when or how. I've lived long enough, however, to learn a lot of patience.

Alright, alright.

I have very little patience.

Fine.

Almost none.

As Edward once described it, I live in the future most of the time and since I usually know the outcome of almost any situation, it seems easier to just get to the end. No need to spend a lot of time on stuff that just won't be important in the long run.

I'm a little excitable, I fully admit that, but I'm also mostly happy with my lot in life, and thus I want to see the people in my family happy as well.

And yet, I know when it is best to sit back and let the events unfold – my visions tell me so.

So I've let these two muddle through the last year and a half without putting in my two cents and only subtly nudging them along.

Until Bella disappeared completely in my mind. One minute, she was standing on a cliff, the next she was throwing herself to the waves.

And then she was gone.

I found out two days later that she had been pulled from the waters by her friend, the mutt.

Going after Edward gave me the fright of a lifetime, his rapidly changing decisions and consequent results flickering through my mind before he settled on what he was going to do to force the Volturi's hands. His future became fuzzy, as did mine and Bella's and it wasn't until she jumped at him in the middle of Volterra to stop him from his suicide mission, that the wedding was back on.

Crisis averted.

The roadblock of the pup was something I did not foresee, since I can't actually see him. Whenever he is near my visions go dark and there is nothing but blank space. I only had Edward's reaction to go on when Bella ran off to see that dog and until he was ready to confront her about the damage she was inflicting on their relationship I could only help him get through the time she was away.

I've been itching to say something. It pained me to no end to see my beloved brother and his mate put each other through so much misery but I've managed to keep my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself and stay content to not interfere between them.

Since the wedding was on again, I knew that eventually everything would turn out the way it was supposed to and I would wait for them to figure it out on their own, though if a vampire were able to develop headaches, I would have been the first.

Each time, Bella spent time with the dog, the vision I had held onto for so long would disappear only to pop back up as soon as she left his vicinity. I knew she struggled with her decision but I also knew that should would have no choice but to pick Edward.

And yet, despite what she was doing, the vision from so long ago never really wavered. It became hazy occasionally, and I suppose those were the times when Bella doubted her choice, but it never fully disappeared again.

And still I stayed silent, hiding my thoughts from my brother as best as I could.

Until this latest fiasco. Edward's decision to run off after making yet another unilateral decision was the final straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. Enough is enough. I let Edward have it before he left town, and when Bella came over with Charlie, her face red and her nose snotty, I let her see the havoc her actions had wrought.

I guess that woke her up because not only did she beg me to help her catch up with Edward but with a little gentle persuasion she also agreed to buy that car he's been wanting for her to replace that ugly beast she calls a vehicle.

The wedding is on, the vision more firm than ever before.

The picture has changed only slightly.

It's late summer, and we are at the house in Forks. Bella is wearing the dress I ordered when we first came back from Italy. Charlie is walking her down the aisle.

And Edward is beaming from one ear to the other as he is waiting for her by the altar.

I'm not sure whether I should let him see what I saw all those years ago. Sure, he's seen the wedding in my head a few times now. After he announced their engagement, it was rather unavoidable.

It doesn't seem though that he knows how long I've known this particular future.

And that's alright.

They're back on the right path, and I am fairly certain that they've figured out by now what needs to be done for both of them to make amends and heal the wounds they've inflicted on each other.

Time will tell.

I'm rather optimistic.

We left them at his childhood home just an hour ago and I'm now seeing things I never expected to see from Edward. It seems my prude little brother is finally relaxing those rigid rules he put in place for himself and Bella.

About damn time.

I close my eyes and snuggle into my husband.

The future is looking bright, indeed.

* * *

**Endnote: **Thank you for reading. If you donated to the Flood compilation, may God bless you for your generosity.

Until next time.


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